Salt Lake Avalanche Advisory

Forecaster: Brett Kobernik

AVALANCHE WARNING »

Dangerous avalanche conditions are occuring or are imminent. Backcountry travel in avalanche terrain is not recommended.
Notice:

OK PEOPLE, ANOTHER CLOSE CALL IN THE BACKCOUNTRY YESTERDAY DEMONSTRATES HOW DANGEROUS THE CONDITIONS ARE. SOMEONE'S LUCK IS BOUND TO RUN OUT IF WE CONTINUE TO TOY WITH STEEP AVALANCHE TERRAIN. AN AVALANCHE WARNING HAS BEEN ISSUED AND READS: RECENT SNOW AND EXPECTED MORE SNOW ON TOP OF AN ALREADY WEAK SNOWPACK IS PRODUCING DANGEROUS AVALANCHE CONDITIONS. NUMEROUS ACCIDENTS HAVE OCCURRED OVER THE LAST FEW DAYS AND MORE ARE PROBABLE IF PEOPLE VENTURE ONTO STEEP AVALANCHE TERRAIN THIS WEEKEND. PEOPLE ARE ADVISED TO AVOID STEEP AVALANCHE TERRAIN OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS.

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

Little Cottonwood Canyon will be closed for avalanche control this morning from about 6 am until around 8:30 am. UDOT canyon closures UDOT at (801) 975-4838

BOTTOM LINE

Danger by aspect and elevation on slopes approaching 35° or steeper.
(click HERE for tomorrow's danger rating)


Danger Rose Tutorial

I'm continuing with a HIGH danger on northwest through southeast facing slopes approaching 35 degrees and steeper. AVOID AVALANCHE TERRAIN TODAY.

CURRENT CONDITIONS

Another foot or so of fresh snow blanketed the upper elevations in the Cottonwoods, Park City Ridgeline and the Provo area mountains. There's about half that in the low and mid elevations. The Ogden mountains received 6 to 10 inches. Temperatures are in the mid teens. Winds have slowed along the mid elevations compared to yesterday and are gusting 10 to 15 mph with gusts in the 20s and 30s along the higher terrain.

RECENT ACTIVITY

There was a full burial and live recovery during a backcountry avalanche accident on Friday. A skier triggered an avalanche that broke two and a half feet deep and 600 feet wide on a northwest facing slope named Brighton Hill or Brad's Bowl. He was caught, carried and fully buried. His partner was able to perform a perfect rescue with an avalanche transceiver and he was recovered with minor injuries.

Another large avalanche was intentionally triggered not far away on the ridge of 10420 by a skier dropping a cornice. This slide broke out three and a half feet deep and was reported as 200 feet wide on a northwest facing slope.

Another pocket pulled out naturally or possibly from skiers walking along the high ridge above Short Swing in Mill D North. It was north facing about 40 feet wide and 1 to 3 feet deep.

There was one other unconfirmed report of a sizable slide along the West Willow ridgeline with an unknown trigger. All of these avalanches broke into old weak faceted snow.

A road bank reportedly released from a snow plow near Deer Creek this morning and covered half the highway with debris.

Cottonwood ski resorts had a very active day on Friday as well with numerous large avalanches breaking into old snow.

Large collapses continue to be reported from the backcountry.

THREAT #1
WHERE PROBABILITY SIZE TREND
      Over the next 24 hours.

The primary concern remains the same but the severity of the avalanches is increasing. The most dangerous situation is clearly triggering an avalanche that breaks into old snow. Weak old snow exists on a variety of aspects from west through north through southeast. It's really simple today, DON'T SCREW AROUND WITH IT.

THREAT #2
WHERE PROBABILITY SIZE TREND
      Over the next 24 hours.

A secondary concern is the new snow. If we have periods today with heavier then expected snowfall, the new snow can rapidly become unstable on all aspects.

MOUNTAIN WEATHER

We'll see periods of snow through the day today with 5 to 10 inches possible adding three to four tenths of an inch of water by this evening. Again, watch out if we see heavier then anticipated snowfall. Temperatures will be in the upper teens to low 20s. Winds will be from the west and northwest and will probably gradually increase as the day goes on. Snow is likely again tonight into Sunday morning.

GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS

Discount Lift tickets: Ski Utah, Backcountry.com, Alta, Deer Valley, Park City, The Canyons, Wolf Mountain, Snowbasin, Beaver Mountain, Brighton, Sundance, and Solitude have donated a limited number of tickets for sale at discounted prices.

Wasatch Powderbird Guides flight plan.

Dawn Patrol Forecast Hotline, updated by 05:30:888-999-4019 option 8.

Daily observations are frequently posted by 10 pm each evening.

Free UAC iPhone app from Canyon Sports.

Subscribe to the daily avalanche advisory e-mail click HERE.

UDOT canyon closures UDOT at (801) 975-4838 Sheriff Office text message service on canyon closures.

We appreciate all your avalanche and snow observations. You can also call us at 801-524-5304 or 800-662-4140, or email to uac@utahavalanchecenter.org

Donate to your favorite non-profit – The Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center. The UAC depends on contributions from users like you to support our work.

The information in this advisory is from the U.S. Forest Service, which is solely responsible for its content. This advisory describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always occur.

Drew will update this forecast on Sunday morning. Thanks for calling.

This information does not apply to developed ski areas or highways where avalanche control is normally done.  This advisory is from the U.S.D.A. Forest Service, which is solely responsible for its content. This advisory describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always occur.

This advisory provided by the USDA Forest Service, in partnership with:

The Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center, Utah Division of State Parks and Recreation, Utah Division of Emergency Management, Salt Lake County, Salt Lake Unified Fire Authority and the friends of the La Sal Avalanche Center. See our Sponsors Page for a complete list.